recently

Though they may not be all that recent, there are some new postings to my website under the 'recent work' section. The first of the posted projects is a sizzle reel for Bechtel Corporation. This was our second year working together to produce a video to kick off their annual Global Business Meeting, and this year, they wanted a video that would match their annual report in both content and visual style. Once again, most of the resources at our disposal were corporate still photography, but this year they did have a small amount of video that could be used. I tried to use the video in a way that would mix in with the still photos and not be an awkward or disjointed contrast to them. After the videos original debut, we also made versions in French and Spanish.

The second project was a labor of love done as a fan. Many of you know I am involved with the Angel City Brigade, a supporter group for the 2011 Champion LA Galaxy. After winning the MLS Cup last year, we started this season with high hopes, only to go through several weeks of losses and find ourselves ranked at the bottom of the entire league. The video was my rallying cry about our passion for the team whether we win or lose. More than other sports, soccer allegiance is about pride in your city, so the video was also meant to be a love letter to LA. Again resources were limited - the Galaxy did not contribute or grant rights to any footage, so most of the content is photography by ACB member Sylvia Desperto that I mixed with time lapse footage I found of Los Angeles by Matthew Givot and Tom Hawkins. In a happy coincidence, the team started winning again after the video was released.

Finally, I've also posted a graphics package for the television show 'Natural Companions' on Veria tv network. This was a redesign for an already existing show about holistic health and wellness for pets. They wanted a cleaner, modern design that could be flexible around a lot of elements and done on a tight deadline. It began airing a few months ago.

You can check out videos of all three of the projects here:

jonberrydesign.com: recent work

a day in the park

Here's a gallery of slices from some recent days at Disneyland. I think I've mentioned before that I gave in last year and succumbed to the annual pass. Luckily, I have some friends that go a lot, so it makes it easy just to tag along with them when I have a free day. It also completely changes the tone of going - its no longer important to be there until closing, or to get lots of things in during your visit in order to get your money's worth or to make the trip worth the trouble of going. If the line for a ride is too long, no big deal - we'll do that another time. If its hot, we'll venture to one of several favorite spots to get a cocktail. If someone wants to do something specific, most everyone always shrugs and says "sure." Just another day in the park.

beach bikin for beerz

Over the past few years it has become a tradition to do a bit of a makeshift pub crawl on bikes along the beaches of Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan for my birthday. Yesterday was the 2012 edition, and this years was a bit more unplanned because it kept falling through the cracks during a busy week. It came down to just a facebook post the day before with a basic schedule; no formal invites or websites like other years. That made for a smaller group of good friends who knew the drill and were all laid back about what and where and just along for the ride and the fun. It was a perfect "summer" day out, and friends joined and left along the way as we hit a couple of my favorite gastropubs as well as a few dive bars. Including the brunch to start, pizza to end, and the games of foosball and buck hunter in between, it ended up being a good 9 or 10 hour marathon of fun and a pretty perfect day for me. Thanks to everyone who came out to share it and help make it such a fun time.

mission 26

As you may have heard, the Space Shuttle Endeavour is making its way this weekend from the Hangar at LAX Airport where its been for the last couple weeks to its new home at the California Science Center near downtown. LA seems to love something like this and its fun to watch the ways a procession like this gets embraced by crowds who want to get a glimpse. We recently had a similar procession as a huge boulder was transported through town as part of a new permanent art installation at the County Museum of Art. Maybe that helped as an unintentional dress rehearsal for the Shuttle. I had hoped to try to catch it earlier in the day yesterday when it was stopped for a while at a lot in Westchester, but some work deadlines kept me from being able to break away. Later that night, I messaged my friend and neighbor Michele to tell her I was going to go play "find the shuttle" in case she wanted to come along. She said sure, but then a few minutes later I got a message asking if I could leave right away. It turns out some friends of hers were at the Toyota Tundra event and were able to have us join them if we could get there. It was an amazing and lucky coincidence. Apparently its the first time any of the shuttles have had to be transported through a city's streets, so it comes with its own set of challenges. One of those is that the transporter was too heavy to take it across the bridge that spans the 405 Freeway. So the Science Center contacted Toyota, who arranged to have a Tundra tow it across the bridge. They were filming a commercial for it and also had a tent and viewing area on the corner where the famous Randy's Donuts is. At one point I was standing next to the owners of Randy's and the Chairman of Toyota with the Shuttle just feet away on the other side of me. It was a bit surreal, but thats not unlike life in California. Just another reason we love it here.

grand idea

Another LA discovery the other day was the new Grand Park. I was just driving through downtown and saw the burst of color from the fountain, then realized I had read about its opening while I was overseas. I pulled over to check it out. Grand Park spans from the Music Center to City Hall. The main focus of the park is the renovated Arthur Will Memorial Fountain at the top of the park. I remember the fountain from when it was a smaller park of a more mid-century modern design, and I have to admit I'm sad to see that design abandoned. But the old park was tucked away and hidden by other structures, and was always empty. The new larger park connects the old park area along with two other new areas that I think used to be parking lots, creating a bigger open space anchored by other signature spaces of LA. The lower third of the park was not yet opened, but looked to be close to completion. I can't say that I loved the space as a whole - it felt disjointed and seemed to have some strange features that created strange interruptions of flow, but at the same time I appreciate that a dead zone has now been transformed. One of my favorite things about Grand Park is that it unintentionally gives a starring role to one of my favorite buildings downtown: the Department of Water & Power's John Ferraro Building by AC Martin. Overall, the park is still a good idea and a step in a good direction. It will be interesting to see how it develops and evolves.

back!

Okay okay, I'm back. And yeah, I've been back a while. Oddly enough, it feels like I've only started to get back into the swing of things. Work has been pretty busy from the moment I got back (thankfully), but the first week back was an odd but fun whirlwind of catching up with friends and going to a lot of my favorite places in LA. It was almost a little weird how it happened that way without intending to. Among the stops was a fairly impromptu trip to one of the best views of LA from Griffith Observatory. Griffith was opened in 1935 and was a WPA project (socialism!). From 2002 to 2006 it was closed for a massive expansion and renovation that brilliantly expanded the museum into the hillside underneath, making very little change to the outward appearance of the art deco landmark. I was there on a Monday, so it was closed (oops), but I was really there just to visit the grounds and see the view anyway. Part of a good welcome back to LA.